Trial by Twitter: Toronto café under fire over art display
Posted October 23, 2015 2:26 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Toronto cafe is facing backlash for displaying art by a man who is accused of harassing women on Twitter.
Gregory Alan Elliott is a Toronto artist who faces harassment charges after he apparently sent harassing tweets to women.
Elliott’s art is hanging on the walls of I Deal Coffee’s Kensington Market location at 84 Nassau St.
The cafe is now facing heat from people on social media in spite of the fact that the verdict in Elliot’s case won’t be decided in court until next year.
Some say they will boycott the I Deal while others commended the I Deal for defending due process.
The cafe has responded to the criticism:
“I Deal coffee in no way, substance or form, endorses stalking or harassment. The context of this show is that Greg is a local artist, with a bright history of illustration, design and street art in the Toronto area. His trial has concluded, is awaiting judgement on January 22 and he is innocent until proven guilty.”
The entire statement was posted on the cafe’s Facebook page.
One of the woman he allegedly harassed was Stephanie Guthrie, a Toronto political feminist who says she blocked him from her Twitter account but he still tagged her in a tweet to others.
“It was starting to seem a little bit crazy. He seemed fixated on me and I was feeling a bit stalked,” she said during his court case in 2014.
